Thursday 15 January 2009

Zack and Wiki: The Hunt For Barbaros' Treasure - Wii

Zack and Wiki has been out for around a year in the UK, but as people constantly moan that there are no good games on the Wii, I thought I'd dust off my copy and give it a bit of a push.

Since the Wii was launched, we've used the Wiimote in various ingenious ways. However, many developers have failed to make good use of the Wii's unique capabilities, leaving many games feeling as though the motion sensing controls were a last minute addition.

So it's refreshing to play through Zack and Wiki again, a Capcom game which makes great use of the Wii's controller.

You play Zack, a young chocolate bar-loving pirate who, along with his monkey sidekick Wiki, set out looking for adventure, and find it by stumbling across a golden chest hidden deep within a forest.

Inside the chest, Zack finds a skull. However, it's no ordinary skull - it's a talking golden skull which turns out to be that of legendary cursed pirate, Barbaros.

Glad to be out of the gloom of the chest, Barbaros invites the plucky pair to undertake an adventure to find the rest of his golden body, which has been scattered across the land.

Each puzzle-based level tasks the player with finding a golden chest. But to reach the elusive prize, the player will have to utilise the Wiimote in a multitude of ways.

You'll be turning keys in doors, opening umbrellas, sawing through trees, shaking objects, playing musical instruments, sliding puzzle blocks around and you'll even find yourself doing the odd spot of dusting. It all adds up to ingenious use of the Wii's controller but most importantly, it all works perfectly.

In some levels enemies will try and hinder your progress, but with a quick shake of the Wiimote, Wiki turns into a bell which is usually enough to scare them off.

The game also has a tonne of unlockables to discover, and everything you find can be viewed via the Hideout, which includes a library and a world map. It is also the place to go if you need help or if you want to check on your game stats.

Capcom have a rich tradition in producing great looking games, and Zack and Wiki continues this trend. The game's art style is beautiful, featuring bright, colourful cell-shaded graphics, while the music, again in typical Capcom style, rarely disappoints.

For older gamers, this title will bring back memories of old point n' click classics such as Day of the Tentacle and Monkey Island, and like those titles, the humour is firmly to the fore here, with some amusing sights and sounds to be discovered along the way.

Zack and Wiki may well have passed you by on its release last year, but it's a game that is well worth hunting down. You should be able to pick it up for a fairly good price these days and it's a Wii game that is not to be missed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Zack and Wiki is my favorite game!